Province changes rural Ontario pharmacy delivery that doctor says was 'not broken'

Health care providers in the Grey-Bruce region are raising the alarm that patients will wait longer for medicine and other supplies after the province issued new contracts for pharmacy delivery.

"This is kind of blowing us out of the water," said Doctor Susan Batten, who specializes in palliative care in Owen Sound, Ont. "These supplies allow us to care for people in their homes."

At issue is contracts Ontario Health issues to pharmacies for the delivery of specialty supplies and medication to support patient home care. This includes items such as sterile compounds and antibiotics taken intravenously, along with specialty supplies such as pain pumps and IV tubing.

For the past 15 years, Brown's Pharmacy in Walkerton has been subcontracted by Yurek pharmacy in London to deliver in the Grey-Bruce region. It's a vast area of small towns and rural communities about 200 kilometres north of London. The service area spans from near Kincardine on the Lake Huron shore in the west, up to Tobermory on the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula, and as far east as Meaford.

Batten, who often has patients receiving palliative care at home, said the delivery service from Walkerton worked well.

"Our healthcare system is broken but this part of the system is not broken," said Batten. "I can call [Brown's] at any time, day or night and they'll send things out. I can get a pain pump usually within an hour if I need it."

When the contract was re-tendered starting in December of 2022, the parameters of the contract changed. Brown's wasn't large enough to service the massive area the contract specified, one that covered almost all of southwestern Ontario.

Brown's Pharmacy in Walkerton has had the contract to deliver supplies and medicine for home care patients for the past 15 years. Now the province is moving in another direction. (Google)

Ryan Fullerton is a pharmacist and owner of Brown's Pharmacy. His hope was to again subcontract from a larger pharmacy and continue serving Grey-Bruce. Bayshore Healthcare won the contract, and will serve the Grey-Bruce region from its location based in Kitchener.

CBC News requested comment from the province on Monday evening. In an email statement sent to CBC News on Wednesday afternoon, spokesperson Hannah Jensen said Bayshore has "entered into a subcontracting relationship in Grey Bruce to effectively service the region".

She did not specify who would be responsible for providing the service to residents.

So why couldn't Brown's be part of the Bayshore contract?

The contract required computer tracking for all deliveries, which Bayshore as a large operator already has set up. Fullerton said Brown's would have had to use the same tracking system and it couldn't be installed and set up in time.

"Bayshore would have only had a few months to add us into their integrated system and that's an extremely difficult proposition for them to do," said Fullerton.

CBC News reached out to Bayshore for comment but did not receive a reply. Starting Tuesday, the company will be serving the entire region delivering to Grey-Bruce.

And while the province says Bayshore has a local provider, healthcare providers do not yet know who that is. They worry deliveries to a location such as Tobermory will have to come from Kitchener, a three and a half hour drive away, instead of from Walkerton, which is less than two hours away.

As Fullerton explains, it's a very specialized service, one only a few pharmacies can do. Some of the medical compounds have to be mixed ahead of time, a process than can take an hour. Factor in winter weather and Fullerton and Batten both worry some patients could be waiting hours longer than needed for medication and supplies.

Fears of hospital discharge delays

Batten worries it will add to pressure on hospital beds.

"It will mean delayed discharges because we can't get home pain pumps so people can go home," she said. "So imagine someone is in the emergency department, they come in at 7 p.m., they need an IV, they miss the cutoff, that person has to come back to emergency or stay in emergency."

In addition to a decline in patient care, Fullerton said it will mean a big hit to his businesses. A total of 32 people work in his delivery service.

"We're laying everyone off as of Nov. 1," he said.